Carpentry questions - garage door refurbishment

[JHZR2]

One of my other garage buildings has two 8’w by 9’h overhead garage doors. Big, wooden doors, with a heavy steel track. Not sure if they are original 1920s, but they look to me to be pre-War.

Overall they’re in good shape, especially above the first row, and I like their look. The bottom most wood has spent too much time on the concrete, and has some cracking and rotting. The panels have some damage. So I started to dive in, and the next thing I know, I have the bottom row removed and pulled apart. It was nice dowel construction, but not much was holding it, since some of the center vertical sections had cracked and broken.

So I’d like to build the bottom most row. First issue is that it is 1 5/8” thick, so thicker than modern dimensional lumber.

Im thinking that if I just cut and rout the panels so that they all sit flush with the door exterior, nobody is going to miss the fraction of an inch at the rear. So long as the hinges are shimmed properly, it should be ok, no?

I don’t have a rail and stiles router bit. I’m thinking that maybe I can do it an easier. If I cut a groove for the panels to slide in to, and make the frame out of 2x4 and 2x6 lumber (this is viable per my measurements), then I can just make it a bit longer then necessary, and rout a profile into the edge of the “frame” I made. This would possibly safe the hassle of rails and stiles and interlocking wood pieces. Does this. Make sense?

pictures coming….

 

[JHZR2]

 

[JHZR2]

So what I think I’m getting at is that since…
- the wood the door is made of is thicker than what you can readily get
- the rails and stiles are cut with a thicker center section than ive seen on router bits
- I only have a small router table, not a big shaper, and need to work with 8’ wide material

That I instead try to duplicate the door, cutting the horizontal and vertical grid, and the plywood panels, and fit it all together…. Then just rout an ogee profile on the exterior edges of the panel openings, and then glue and dowel the whole thing together as one big structure…

It seems like this would be easier than dealing with rail and stile approaches where everything slides in and interlocks.

Does this make a shred of sense, make a boxier version and then just rout the pattern into the openings?

Thanks!

 

[wrcsixeight]

Table saw.
8" or taller fence @90 degrees exact,stable
Stacked dado blade.
Featherboards to keep stock tight against fence.

Kreg pocket screws and glue can rival tongue and groove joints.
Glue is lubricant when wet.
Clamps...never enough clamps.

 

[ecotourist]

I replaced the bottom rail of a 1928 - 1930 Overhead Door brand door some years ago. It worked out fine. The wood was intact above the bottom rail. So do something sensible and glue it up solid. It'll be better than a new one.

And as wrcsixeight says you can't use too many clamps.

 

[JHZR2]

It’s getting there. I referenced everything to the front so I can use standard dimensional lumber. Will shim the hinges on the inside.

I used 10x50 Festool Dominos to line everything up and put it together dry.

Only real issue is that I used an ogee router bit, and messed up where I needed to start and stop to do the panels. So then I routed all the way across. So either need to re-do the top piece or else fill it in.

 

[benjy]

NICE! almost anything can be repaired with the proper skills, time + $$$$, prolly easier putting a new door on IMO.

 

[JHZR2]

NICE! almost anything can be repaired with the proper skills, time + $$$$, prolly easier putting a new door on IMO.

Thanks! I cut an entirely new top piece with the profile that mates with the door section above it. Then I fixed the routing on that top piece so it started and stopped as needed to get the right sections, and it glued up and went together well. I hung it, and had a pro find the right size springs and set them up.